Operation Payback Targets Amazon

UPDATE 16:53 GMT A post on the AnonOpsNet Twitter account has confirmed that Anonymous cannot attack Amazon due to a lack of "forces", but that the online retail giant is still a future target.

"Though our final intention is to DDoS Amazon.com, we currently CAN NOT. The target is api.paypal.com, port 443 as shown on the main channel," the post reads.

UPDATE 16:44 GMT Following some confusion as to who the target for Operation Payback should be, AnonOpsNet has tweeted: "Okay, we have changed our target -- the Hive isn't big enough to attack Amazon. NEW TARGET: api.paypal.com. Port: 443. SPREAD THE WORD"

“Online Living Consciousness” Anonymous has directed its Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) towards Amazon’s website and looks set to fire.

Confrimed in a post on the Op_Payback twitter account, the group said: “TARGET: WWW.AMAZON.COM !!!”

The move marks a significant step up in operations for Anonymous, who, until recently, have not targeted such companies as they tend to be much harder to bring down. But Anonymous appear to be approaching the challenge with no shortage of optimism.

“If we don't take down Amazon, at least they will have an interesting bandwith bill,” AnonOpsNet tweeted.

According to Anonymous, Operation Payback is the codename for a joint effort to “fight against those who seek to misuse the Internet”, typically using distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), and now directed towards “morally corrupt” organisations targeting WikiLeaks.